Improvement in cloth-guides for sewing-machines



A. HUSTON. SEWING MACHINE GAGE.

No. 49,031. I Patented Jilly 25,- 1865.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ARTHUR HUSTON, OF BRISTOL, ASSIGNOR TO SHAW & CLARK, OF BIDDE- FORD,MAINE.

IMPROVEMENT IN CLOTH-GUIDES FOR SEWING-MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 49,02, dated July 25,1865.

provement in Sewing-Machine Gages; and I hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings,

of which- Figure 1 is a top view of my improved gage. Fig. 2 is a sideor edge view of the same. Fig. 3 is amodification of my improved gage.Fig.

4 is a view of a roller used in the modification or kind of gage shownin Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a view of the guide or upright.

Corresponding letters of reference refer to corresponding parts.

On nearly all sewing-machines now used a gage is employed to keep thecloth in position and guide it to the needle. Many of these gages areconstructed by attaching two thin metallic plates at one end in such amanner that the upper plate acts as a spring to press upon the cloth,while the lower one is fastened by a screw to the bed-piece of themachine, the cloth passing, on its way to the needle, between the upperand lower plates. Itis to this class of gages that my improvementrelates, the objections to those in common use being that the clothwedges or crowds between the upper and lower plates at the part-nearestthe ends which are attached together, and such gages will not permitseams and uneven places in the cloth to pass freely'to the needle, andwill not k ep the cloth properly distended and smoothdifliculti'es whichare overcome by my invention- In Fig. 1,-A is the body or main partofthe gage, which is constructed of thin sheet metal, havingtwo slots, dd, through which the thumbscrew passes by which it is attached to thesewing-machine, after the usual manner of attacking a gage.

B is a pad or upper plate, shaped as shown, and which is pressed uponthe cloth being sewed by a spring, m, which is attached at one end tothe plate Aby the screw or rivet r, and at the other end is jointed tothe plate or pad B by the joint 0.

An upright guide or plate, aa, is attached to the plate A and rises atright angles to it to prevent the cloth from passing under the spring m,and to guide it in a right direction to the needle. This uprignt plateis shown more fully in Fig. 5, in which a ais the plate, and o o flangesor projections by which it is attached to the plate A. In the top partofit is an aperture or slot in which the spring works, and whichprevents the spring m and pad B from being drawn or pulled out of place.by the action .of the cloth being sewed. The.

pad B is beveled or shoeshaped on its under side around the edges toenable it to ride easily over uneven places in the cloth, and whenconstructed with the point 8, or in the peculiar form shown in Fig. 1,operates to distend and smooth the cloth and direct it against the guidea a as it passes to the needle, and by being hinged to the spring-in themanner shown, by thejoint c,'is enabled to yield at either end toaccommodate itself to any unevenness in the cloth.

I do not confine myself to the peculiar shape of pad shown in Fig. 1, asI have used a variety of forms. I have also used a pad with a roller, asin Fig. 3, the roller having grooves, as shown in that figure andsometimes as shown in Fig. 4. I have also grooved the inner surfaceofthe plate A, as at as, with diagonal grooves to guide the cloth againstthe part a a. The inner face of the pad B can be grooved in the samemanner; but Iprefer plain surfaces, and a pad of the form shown'in Fig.1.

I do not claim a spring-gage, as such are old and well known; but

What is of my invention is- 1. A sewing-machine gage inwhich the pad orupper plate, B, is arranged and u ed substantially in the manner and forthe purposes shown and specified.

2. Constructing the pad B substantially in the form described and shownin Fig. 1, for the purposes specified, when such pad is arranged andused in the manner herein set forth.

, ARTHUR HUSTON.

Witnesses:

E. N. STETSON, A. G. HUsroN.

